Political Order in Changing Societies

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Political Order in Changing Societies is a book by Samuel P. Huntington dealing with changes in the political systems and political institutions. Huntington argues that those changes are caused are by tensions within the political and social system.

In contrast to the modernization theory which suggest that economic change and development are catalysts in the creation of stable, democratic political systems, Huntington argues that such factors as urbanization, increased literacy, social mobilization, and economic growth do not go hand in hand with political development; the processes are related but distinct.

Huntington argues that order itself was an important goal of developing societies, independent of the question of whether that order was democratic, authoritarian, socialist, or free-market.

[edit] Quote

"The most important political distinction among countries concerns not their form of government but their degree of government."
"The primary thesis of this book is that [the violence and instability characteristic of the post-WWII era] was in large part the product of rapid social change and the rapid mobilization of new groups into politics coupled with the slow development of political institutions"
"The primary problem of politics is the lag in the development of political institutions behind social and economic change"